Manufacturers of products for retail markets generally apply for Universal Product Codes (“UPC”) and/or Electronic Product Codes (“EPC”) for their products. A UPC and/or EPC comprises information specific to the product, such as the identity of the product (by a product code) and the manufacturer, and is typically included on a label affixed to the product or its packaging at the manufacturer's facility. The label may store UPC information (either by including the UPC directly or a code that relates to the known UPC) in a barcode printed on the label or EPC information on a radio frequency identification (“RFID”) tag attached to the label stock. Depending upon their size, several identical products may be packaged together in a “carton,” which as used herein refers to the product box or other packaging. Multiple cartons of the same products can then be placed in groups, or pallets, that may be arranged in a distribution center. This process is referred to as “palletizing.”
In addition to the basic UPC label, manufacturers have also attached a more detailed barcode label to a product's packaging before shipping the product to a retailer or wholesaler. The retailer/wholesaler may provide to the manufacturer some or all of the information to be included within this more detailed label, but such information may also depend on other factors, for example as related to the product's distribution. Some retailers request that manufacturers also label packages with RFID tags to include the same or more information than is provided in the detailed barcode labels.
Barcode labels are preferably applied to packages so that they may be within the line of sight of a later barcode reader but are generally unaffected by the package's contents. RFID tags, on the other hand, generally do not require line of sight placement but can be affected by package contents. As should be understood in this art, for example, some liquids can absorb radio frequency (“RF”) signals, while metals may reflect RF signals. Placement of the RFID tag in sufficient proximity to such materials can inhibit the ability of a later RFID reader to read the tag's information.